Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Weekends at our house in the fall usually involve some kind of football. This past weekend we were treated to NCAA college football, NFL football and PS2 football. Tate and I are the big football fans, the others only have a peripheral interest. The main teams we pull for at the NCAA level are The University of Texas Longhorns, Purdue, Clemson, and for some reason Tate loves to pull for the Oregon Ducks. In the NFL it’s the Cowboys and the Colts, and to a lesser degree the Panthers. I’ve been a Cowboy fan literally longer than I can remember. We became Colts fan during our 3-year stay in Indiana, and since Tate was born there, he’s really adopted them as his team. No illegal rooting going on here (with the exception of the Ducks). I’m not sure Tina knew what she was getting into when she married a Cowboy/football fan, but she’s a good sport and keeps interested and roots for them as well. She does have to bug out during the close games and turn on Desperate Housewife’s or something. She can’t stand the tension.

Oh, and in case you haven’t heard, do you know what Purdue fans do after their team wins the National Championship?They turn off the PS2 and go outside.

Anyway, mixed in with the Longhorn and Clemson win, and the Purdue loss this weekend, was some quality dining room painting time. Well, I use the word quality loosely. Hopefully I’ll post some pictures so you can check it out. I hate painting, and this was no exception. However, I put on a good attitude, carefully taped off the crown molding, chair rail, columns, windows and doors and began to paint. The trim part I especially hated. However, after 2 coats, and several football games, it was finished. The next morning we removed the tape. AAAGGGHH! It was awful. Some of the paint had seeped behind the tape and ran onto the molding. Some of the paint on the wall peeled off with the tape. So now there’s tons of touchup and cleanup to be done, and I am all out of good painting attitude. I suppose either Tina or I will muster up some “want to” and get it done in the next weeks, but no promises.The only thing to really perk me up was the Cowboys beating the Redskins Sunday night. The Colts and the Panthers also came away with wins, but the Cowboy win was just what the doctor ordered. I especially like the finish where they were up 4 and got the ball back with 6:23 left. They gave the ball to Marion Barber 9 times straight and said to the Redskins, “this is what we got, what are you going to do about it”? No answer from the skins, Cowboys run out the clock and win.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

I took a trip down memory lane yesterday. The trip was initiated by an email from Tina about one of our friends and their special needs child. This took me back 15 or 20 years to another special needs child that was in our life. Her name was Kathryn, and she must have been somewhere around 5 years old. I can’t say I knew her well, but we worked with her about once a month during children’s chapel. She required a little extra attention. For instance, if you wanted her to sit down, you had to lead her to her seat. She always insisted on holding on to your hand when moving from one place to another. She was not verbal at all. She could make sounds, and interpreting these sounds into what she wanted became easier the more you got to know her. Kathryn always had a smile and a hug for anyone who was willing to be loved.

Kathryn’s life on earth ended somewhere around that time. She may have been as old as seven years old, I don’t remember exactly. Her earthly body was just not created to last that many years. What I do remember is her funeral. Our pastor, Brother Ken, officiated at her services. For those of you who don’t know Brother Ken, let me give you a brief biography. At the time of this funeral, he had been pastor of this church for somewhere around 35 years (It’s been over 50 now). He is an incredible man. He had served as chaplain of the police department and fire department in this metropolitan area. He had also served as chaplain for the Texas Highway patrol. All this as well as being pastor of this church with somewhere around 500 attending at the time. I mention this to point out that Brother Ken had seen a lot of tragedy. He had stood beside families who had lost loved ones way too early in life, sometimes multiple family members. I’ll let you think through what all kinds of things this man may have experienced in these roles for 35 years.

But I watched him at Kathryn’s funeral. I remember the tears streaming down the cheeks of this man who had always shown strength while showing compassion at the same time. Yet now emotion overtook him. Through the tears, while choking back the nearly uncontrollable sobs, he spoke of how he had learned so much from Kathryn. Kathryn had taught him about love. Specifically, he had learned from her what unconditional love meant, the same love that our God has for us. I am still learning this lesson, as I remember this young girl. I’m not sure what Kathryn’s new heavenly body is like. I’m sure it’s perfect, and I wonder what it might be like. I have seen perfect love, through Jesus, and an example of that through a young girl who touched so many lives simply by having, showing, and giving unconditional love.